Chapter 5
Fortunate is One Who Hears a Heavenly Voice
Fortunate is one who prepares himself properly and merits to hear the Heavenly Voice announcing to him, “Lech Lecha – Go to your Land.” As the saintly Gerrer Rebbe wrote in his seminal work Sfat Emet on Parashat Lech Lecha:
"The Ramban [Nachmanides] asked why the Torah tells us that Avraham was told to go to the Land and receive all the blessings, etc. - without having told us beforehand why Hashem chose him in the first place. Based on the Zohar, the answer appears to be that this itself is Avraham’s praise. For G-d tells everyone ‘Lech Lecha’- but they don’t hear it! As the Zohar says, 'Woe to those who sleep in their holes’ – but Avraham Avinu heard the voice and accepted it. Therefore the Torah stated that this was told to him, of all people, for he was the only one who actually listened. And this is his praise: that he was ready to accept that which G-d told him.”
We find a similar thought expressed by the Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Arukh), as he and his colleagues were privileged to hear from the Maggid. As the Shelah HaKadosh wrote: 10
“Go up to the Land of Israel. For not all times are the same, and there is nothing preventing G-d from saving us with whatever means available. Don't be worried about your material goods – for you will be privileged to eat the good of the Upper Land. And if you are willing and if you listen, then you will be able to eat of the good of that Land. Therefore, hasten and go up."
10. page 180a; see the entire passage
FOOTNOTES
Site created by Kayla Krauss | Kayla Krauss Graphics Studio